£20m reserve ‘a vital haven’ for birds
Humber scheme of ‘global importance’
ENVIRONMENT: A new £20m wildlife reserve on the banks of the Humber will be of “global importance” to wildlife, providing a vital stop-off for birds on migratory journeys, the Environment Agency has said.
A NEW wildlife reserve on the banks of the Humber will be of “global importance” to wildlife, providing a vital stop-off for birds on their long migratory journeys, the Environment Agency has said.
The £20m scheme will involve the sacrifice of as much as 1,000 acres of farmland near Skeffling, but the agency’s officials have insisted they have listened to residents drawing up the plans, which will be submitted to East Riding Council in February.
When it is planned to be finished in about 2024, it will be more than three times the size of a similar scheme created at Paull, near Hull, over a decade ago by moving the flood defences back and flooding agricultural land.
The latest scheme is legally required because industrial development and hard defences along the estuary – including the new £42m tidal wall in Hull – are robbing birds, such as golden plover, curlews and redshank, of their natural habitat, mud flats and saltmarsh.
It involves breaching the flood bank in two places, near Weeton and on Sunk Island Sands, creating more than 700 acres of intertidal habitat, with another 185 acres of wetland nearby, where the birds can roost.
Before that happens, new flood defences will be built further inland, which the agency says will improve the standard of flood protection for people living in Welwick, Skeffling and Weeton.
Project manager Jenny Cooke said the new flood banks would be at least half-a-metre higher than the existing ones dating back to the 1950s, offering a one-in-500 year level of protection.
But she claimed the scheme
also had a “global significance” for wildlife, and said: “Unless these birds have a guaranteed habitat to support them to rest and feed during their journeys their numbers will decline significantly.
“That’s why there are so many protections on the Humber estuary. Our economy can’t stand still – it has to respond and adapt. The system enables the economy to grow and protect communities from flooding, but also so the environment isn’t compromised.”
If planning approval is given, construction will start in 2020. It will take four years, because contractors will only be allowed to work for six or seven months due to the presence of over-wintering birds.
Diggers will carve out a network of creeks and create small scrapes, ponds and channels in the intertidal area, which will act as the birds’ “dining room” with nearby wet grassland to act as their “bedroom”. Some locals have objected to the flooding of agricultural land once reclaimed from the Humber.
But Ms Cooke said it would help other industries – with the wetland habitat acting as nurseries for fish, which would help towards North Sea stocks, and there were also possibilities for saltmarsh grazing. She insisted the agency has listened, with drop-ins held every two to three months and a newsletter to keep people up to date.
About 70 per cent of community suggestions had been taken on, including adding small lay-bys and fishing platforms along the Winestead Drain. There will be a right of way, which includes a bridleway, running along the top of the flood bank, and dipping behind it in areas considered sensitive for wildlife.
“I’m hoping people will see we have listened and we have done whatever we can to make it a great scheme not just for the environment but for the enjoyment of the community,” she added.
Skeffling Parish Council’s chairman, Richard Newsam, said the scheme had been on the cards for 15 years and people accepted the land would have to go.
The main concern was how surface water was going to be managed.
“To be fair to the Environment Agency, they have given good presentations and offered the public a lot of opportunity to give them feedback,” he added.
Our economy can’t stand still – it has to respond and adapt. Environment Agency project manager Jenny Cooke